If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Marking tulle and No-See-Um

Picked up some black tulle for practice sewing with and making some prototypes. Found out the Sharpie and chalk were not useful in marking the material. What do people use?

1st project was couple pairs of tarp snakeskins. Ended up just eyeballing the lines to cut. I'm a klutz when it comes to sewing, but this material is significantly easier to deal with than silnylon. ~1.5hr to sew up couple pairs. ~1.25oz/pair vs. ~3oz/pair for the silynylon set. For the bug sock and mossie under barrier prototypes a number of curved cuts will be required. Definitely will need to mark out the pattern on the material.

Considering the lighter weight & lower costs if this stuff is durable I may not ever buy No-See-Um again.

I gave up on marking it and just cut it by eye. Then pin and sew. I tried pens, sharpies, chalk, a chalk line, markers, etc. Others may have had better luck than me. I only use Tulle (cause I'm cheap )

I haven't found a morker that works. For cutting out baffles for quilts, I run a measuring tape down each side of the no-seeum, then lay a metal straight edge on top. I line up the straight edge to the same measurement on both tapes, then slice away with my knife.

My trick is that I cover the table with an old remnant piece of carpet. It's amazing how tough that stuff is. I can cut the netting and the carpet seems unaffected!

Here is what I have done, but I don't know that I have it figured out.

First I don't use black netting for baffles because it is hard to mark. I use gray or white netting for that so that the black and other color magic markers can be used.

For bug nets where I want to use black netting, I use what I'm wanting to call a grease pencil. It is like a wooden pencil but instead of lead it uses a white material. It is difficult to see on the black netting and I use my LED headlamp to help illuminate it. Often I mark the line multiple times and use my LED headlamp then to make sure it is visible. It is still a pia and the angle the light hits it from can make a difference in how visible the mark is and whether it is visible at all... which is why I don't use black netting unless I have to.

I use a colored (wax) pencil when marking cut lines on tulle for custom jobs.

For critical or important intersections, I temporarily stick small pieces of masking tape to the material and mark directly on the tape with a ball point pen. After cutting and/or sewing, the tape pulls right off.

For transferring patterns, I mark sharpie lines on my Masonite work surface and hot cut the no-see-um or tulle by viewing through the material.

In marking the placement of my zipper on my DIY net, I used MASKING TAPE. I hung my material over my ridgeline and started placing the tape where I wanted the zipper to go. It was great to be able to pull up and replace the tape to get the zipper exactly where I wanted it. I pinned the zipper in place directly adjacent to the tape, pulled the tape off, and then sewed the zipper down. Good luck!

"Pips"

Mountains have a dreamy way
Of folding up a noisy day​In quiet covers, cool and gray.

I'd recommend you try painters tape or drafting tape- designed to be removed..as is masking tape, but I have had some residue from time to time...mostly when working with paper, but still worth a thought...KM